Police forces

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OPINION: ‘Lone-actor’ attacks carried out by individuals without any direct affiliation to a terrorist group have become increasingly common in Europe; University of St Andrews Senior Lecturer Dr Diego Muro and PhD candidate Ovidiu Craciunas look at the difficulties in accurately defining and preventing such attacks, as well as how a better understanding of the behaviour and motivations of previous lone actors can help to address future threats.

FEATURE: Adopting and implementing a ‘carrot and stick’ approach to those likely to be drawn into organised crime groups (OCGs) – by coupling increased surveillance and police action with the opportunity for rehabilitation and pathways out of crime – can prevent young people from entering OCGs, reduce recidivism, disrupt gang activity, and increase arrests of established members, according to the results of a pilot scheme by West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest figures released by Action Fraud, the UK fraud reporting agency run by City of London Police, show that overall reports of investment fraud have fallen but the amount of money stolen by fraudsters has increased, with cryptocurrency scams, ‘pig butchering’ schemes, and pension and recovery fraud all cause for concern, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With police officers in the UK and Ireland operating under immense pressures, University of the West of England Senior Lecturers Dr Cody Porter and Dr Paul Gavin share findings from their recent research projects into specific sources of stress and its profound impacts on officers’ mental health in both jurisdictions, and call for a shift in the way mental health is treated – “not as an afterthought, but as an operational priority”.

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FEATURE: A new study of a two-year hotspot policing approach in Dallas, Texas, has found that targeting a small number of ‘micro areas’ not only cut crime in those places but reduced crime city-wide, with researchers suggesting the approach offers an ideal, scalable solution to target violent crime – particularly for forces facing officer shortages – as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Terrorist attacks targeting police officers in Nigeria resulted in the deaths of more than 900 officers between 2009 and 2022; Dr Usman A. Ojedokun, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan, looks at the statistics behind the attacks, the groups carrying them out, the weapons they use, and the lessons to learn from the current trends.

FEATURE: Following an inspection into the force’s prevention, protection and prosecution of domestic abuse, and the support for victims, a new report by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate (now the Policing and Community Safety Authority) calls for more multi-agency measures, better management of offenders and the adoption of a force-wide domestic abuse strategy, among more than 50 recommendations aimed at improving current approaches, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the continuing growth in pharmaceutical crime, highlighted by a recent Europol report which suggests that the proliferation in fake and sub-standard medicines prompted by Covid-19 has continued and expanded since the end of the pandemic, with co-operation and intelligence sharing among police and the private sector one of the key steps to tackling the crime.

ANALYSIS: Recent arrests and seizures suggest drug traffickers are increasingly switching to chemically concealed cocaine (CCC) to move tonnes of shipments around the world, largely undetected; in the third in a series of articles on CCC and organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Dalby looks at growth of extraction labs across Europe and into the UK, the wealth of evidence, information and intelligence that the discovery of such labs can provide, and the vital role of forensic investigations.

INTERVIEW: Marking his first full year in post, Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing Ryan Teschner has launched a new three-year strategy for policing in the province, along with a promise to be a ‘right-touch regulator’ who will propel Ontario to become a global centre of excellence; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the aim of the strategy, his ambitions for the service, and how his role and the new organisation he leads has been welcomed by police agencies across the province.

FEATURE: A new report into the “effectiveness and efficiency” of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, warns that budgetary constraints have led to the lowest number of officers in the PSNI’s history, hampering the best efforts of the chief constable, his officers and staff to provide a high-quality service and build trust with communities, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest report on the MDMA drugs market, published by Europol and the European Union Drugs Agency, points to increased European production with significant health and environmental impacts, as well as EU criminal gangs reversing traditional cocaine routes to export MDMA to South America and Asia – in some cases bartering their product for other drugs – as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: Professor Alison Sullivan’s recent Independent Review of Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender includes a number of examples of the ongoing confusion around data on sex, as well as recommendations on how UK policing should approach these issues; Dr Kath Murray, co-director of MurrayBlackburnMackenzie policy analysis which provided research and analytical support to the review, highlights some of the key points it raises and how policing should move forward.

ANALYSIS: An independent review of the South Australian domestic violence disclosure scheme (DVDS), delivered in partnership by Domestic and Family Violence Services and South Australia Police, has found applications to the scheme have more than doubled in six years, and it achieved a 99% satisfaction rate from applicants, with reviewers urging other jurisdictions looking to implement DVDS schemes or review existing ones to use the South Australian initiative as their model, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The global trade in illicit drugs is estimated to be worth at least half a trillion US dollars, much of which is laundered under the radar of law enforcement and the media; Bournemouth University Lecturer in Criminology Dr Mark Berry, and University of the West of Scotland Senior Lecturer Dr R.V. Gundur, take an in-depth look at money laundering in the drug trade, and explain why law enforcement and governments should be focusing on money as well as drugs.

INNOVATION: Pilots of a new approach to domestic abuse response in Avon and Somerset, with police officers working with independent domestic violence advisors to visit victims more quickly after offences, have achieved more engagement and support referrals for victims and greater support for police action; Detective Inspector Matt Cable spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the success of the pilots to date, and hopes that the initiative can be rolled out more widely.

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FEATURE: With retention of officers a major challenge for police services around the world, research by Sergeant Jessica Mullen of the London Police Service in Ontario highlights the scale of the problem, the reasons behind officer departures and the disparity between who is leaving, and the need for police agencies to conduct exit interviews and increase data collection to improve understanding of the issues, as Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood reports.

FEATURE: A new report from the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse into the latest trends in child sexual abuse (CSA) offences in England and Wales has highlighted record levels of charges for CSA and long delays in court cases, but also significant geographical variations in data recording and trends that suggest the response to sexually abused children “depends on where they live”, prompting calls for a Government-led national prevalence survey to establish the true scale of the problem, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: A new Winston Churchill Trust report exploring the international policing responses to cybercrime, written by Queensland Police Service Detective Chief Inspector Michael Newman, has highlighted a range of learning opportunities and practical takeaways around prevention, detection, investigation, and capability to improve Australia’s law enforcement efforts to target cybercriminals, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: New South Wales Supreme Court recently found a police officer guilty of the manslaughter of a 95-year-old care home resident, who died a week after being Tasered by the officer; Deakin University Criminology Lecturer Dr Emma Ryan believes the case represents a watershed moment in the debates around police use of force, what the public expects of police, and how courts choose to reinforce those expectations.

OPINION: Europol’s recently published 2025 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) highlighted the evolving trends of SOC on the international stage; former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation and advocate of the community intelligence-led policing methodology, argues that the SOCTA also reinforces the key role that frontline officers and the Neighbourhood Policing Pathway have to play in tackling that SOC threat.